TALIBAN KILLS FOREIGN AID WORKERS

The bodies were found in a remote dense forest in the northern province of Badakhshan [EPA]

The Taliban has said it shot dead eight foreign aid workers in a remote northern region of Afghanistan, accusing them of being “Christian missionaries”.

“Yesterday at around 8am, one of our patrols confronted a group of foreigners. They were Christian missionaries and we killed them all,” Zabihulla Mujahed, a spokesman for the Taliban movement, said on Saturday.

“They were carrying Persian language bibles, a satellite-tracking device and maps,” he said.

The bodies of 10 people, including two Afghans, were found next to three bullet-riddled four-wheel drive vehicles in the province of Badakhshan on Friday.

Mujahed said the group was lost and the victims were killed as they tried to escape.

Health workers

Dirk Frans, the director of the the International Assistance Mission charity, told The Associated Press news that the group was returning to Kabul from an eye facility in Nuristan province when they were killed.

“This tragedy negatively impacts our ability to continue serving the Afghan people as IAM has been doing since 1966,” a statement released by the nonprofit Christian organisation which provides healthcare services said.

“We hope it will not stop our work that benefits over a quarter of a million Afghans each year.”

IAM says it provides the majority of eye care available to Afghans, running eye hospitals in Kabul, Herat, Mazar and Kandahar.

Al Jazeera’s James Bays, reporting from Kabul, said the area where the bodies were found was not considered one of the more dangerous places in Afghanistan, and that some of the workers had extensive experience with the country and its languages.

That means the killings are even likelier to make many of the non-govermental organisation working in the country reassess their operations, Bays said.

“I am sure it will limit some operations that have been benefitting the people of Afghanistan,” he said.

The foreign victims were believed to include US and German citizens.

The US embassy in Afghanistan said it believed a number of its citizens were among the dead.

“We have reason to believe that several American citizens are among the deceased,” Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for the US embassy said in a statement on Saturday.

“We cannot confirm any details at this point, but are actively working with local authorities and others to learn more about the identities and nationalities of these individuals.”

Afghan survivor

General Agha Noor Kemtuz, the provincial police chief, said a third Afghan man, who had been travelling with the group, survived.